FBI, White House fight over controversial Republican memo
Washington: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has clashed with US President Donald Trump over a Republican intelligence memo, developing the rift between the leader and the agency probing Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The memo apparently accuses the Justice Department and the agency of abusing a surveillance programme known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) during the 2016 election campaign.
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday sent a striking signal to the White House, issuing a rare public warning that the memo omits key information that could impact its veracity.
The move set up an unpleasant clash between Wray and Trump, who already has fired one FBI Director and has repeatedly expressed a desire to remove the Attorney General and others connected to the Russia investigation.
The President wants the memo released and told his advisers that he believes it makes the case that the FBI and Justice Department officials acted inappropriately when they sought the highly-classified warrant in October 2016 on campaign adviser Carter Page, the New York Times reported.
"We have grave concerns about the material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy," the FBI said.
On Wednesday, White House chief of staff John Kelly predicted the memo would be released "pretty quick" and that "the whole world will see it".
Trump himself was overheard telling a Republican congressman after the State of the Union address he will "100 per cent" release the memo.
Democrats made a last-minute attempt to halt the process on late Wednesday.
The Justice Department has warned repeatedly that the memo, prepared by Republican staff members on the House Intelligence Committee, is "misleading" and that its release would set a bad precedent for making government secrets public, including sensitive sources of information and methods of intelligence gathering.
FBI officials said the President "was prioritizing politics over national security and is putting the bureau's reputation at risk".
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Three arrested for running fake Aadhaar racket in UP's Badaun
Budaun (UP), Apr 30 (PTI): The Budaun Police on Thursday busted a gang allegedly involved in preparing fake Aadhaar cards and forged documents, and arrested three of its members, officials said.
The action was carried out in the Hazratpur area, where the accused were found operating an illegal setup to generate fake identity documents, they said.
The accused have been identified as Farman Ali, a resident of Munshi Nagla, Anuj Kumar of Uprela, and Brajnandan of Sirsauli.
The police said a fingerprint scanner, three laptops, a hard disk, a scanner, a large number of Aadhaar cards and several suspicious documents were recovered from their possession.
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During interrogation, it was revealed that the gang had been involved in preparing fake identity documents for a long time, misleading people and earning money through illegal means, officials said.
Station House Officer Pushpendra Singh said the accused have been produced before a court, and efforts are underway to identify and arrest other members of the gang.
He added that further revelations are likely as the investigation progresses.
